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Truth as a constitutional value: liberal constitutionalism, private capital and media regulation

Hosted by LSE Law School

In-person and online public event (Sheikh Zayed Theatre, Cheng Kin Ku Building)

Speakers

Professor Tarun Khaitan

Professor Tarun Khaitan

Professor Lea Ypi

Professor Lea Ypi

Discussant

Chair

Professor David Kershaw

Professor David Kershaw

Liberal constitutional theory rests on a fundamental division between duty-bearing public institutions and the rights-wielding private persons. This inaugural lecture will explore the implications of this division on the constitutional regulation of news and social media corporations.

It will argue that constitutional theory needs to acknowledge the essentially public purpose of news media corporations. even when privately owned. It will further argue that the liberal free speech framework (even in its ‘positive’, pluralism-seeking, conception) cannot justify regulation of echo chambers and polarising content on social media. Democratic constitutions, therefore, need to explicitly recognise truth (or ‘verity’) as an independent fundamental constitutional value. The key implications for constitutional regulation that would follow from this recognition will be explored.

Meet our speakers and chair

Tarun Khaitan (@tarunkhaitan) is the Professor (Chair) of Public Law at the LSE Law School and an Honorary Professorial Fellow at Melbourne Law School. Previously, he has been the Head of Research at the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights (Oxford), the Professor of Public Law and Legal Theory (Oxford), Vice Dean (Faculty of Law, Oxford), and a Visiting Professor of Law (Chicago, Harvard, and NYU law schools).

Lea Ypi is Professor in Political Theory in the Government Department at LSE, and Adjunct Associate Professor in Philosophy at the Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University. Before joining LSE, she was a Post-doctoral Prize Research Fellow at Nuffield College (Oxford) and a researcher at the European University Institute where she obtained her PhD.

David Kershaw is Dean of LSE Law School. He is also a member of the LSE Council, the Governing Body of LSE, and Associate Tenant at Cornerstone Barristers. He is the former General Editor of the Modern Law Review.

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